Clear bra or not. opinions? (Las vegas)

Must wait approx. 4-6 weeks post paint to clear bra. If going to do it may ask bodyshop to keep it under heat in curing a bit longer as it removes certain distalites I am told. Had my 360 done approx. 6mo.ago which consisted of entire front as live currently in Co. Lots of trucks , windy sand and rock covered highways etc. Vegas has some sand storms etc. Prob. not a bad idea to clear bra. No idea of installers there, but I have used Venture shield on current FERRARI and MB. It is currently owned by 3M and has a life time guarantee peeling, yellowing etc. I find it very clear for the most part. MB is a daily driver x almost 3 yrs. and looks great with no issues.
I feel the area of the county you live in warrants bra or no bra. As we are soon moving back to Fl. , my decision would prob. have chged and I would not have applied it.
Docf

 

I had my 430 done here

http://www.pro-tectfilm.com/

They are over on Dean Martin drive south of Flamingo. I'm happy with the results -- no seam in the hood like the cheapy pre-cut sets.

I hate recommending things like this (or paint shops) because as soon as you do, everyone has a different opinion. But, I did it and I'm very satisfied. I suggest you at least check them out. They have been doing it for some time.

I wasn't going to get it done but a few sand blasts on those "bad days" convinced me it was the right thing to do.

 

did you have to repaint your hood before you clear-bra-ed it?

 

personally, I would clearbra the entire car, if that was an option -

 

No, the car was still new by a few months. I wanted to do it before I started to see erosion from sand blasting. I just wanted the piece of mind of not getting home and seeing the entire front bumper down to primer. Sometimes the sand in Vegas can be amazingly powerful.

I would ask these guys their opinion. They seem to know what to recommend. I got the front bumper, the entire hood, the two front wings, the front A pillars, the lower body, the fuel cap, the door handles, and the rear deck where the top goes down. You can do less if you want. There is a slight increase in the look of orangepeal where the film is. Most people cannot see it at all. If you're worried about orangepeal, just do the front bumper. You will never see it.

Here's a shot after a photo shoot. No one noticed the film on the car. If you want to take a closer look, I'll be back home in about 2 weeks. It will be in it's usual parking spot!
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beautiful. how much, if i may ask?

 

For the film? Check your PM.

 

driving from Vegas to Socal....hit by a mini sand storm...clear bra over entire front end of car...saved the paint. Front windshield...pitted to hell and needs replaced!

 

some film products differ in look to others. Look into Venture Shield as some say it has less orange peel look vs other brands.

 

I won't drive a car without 3M on it. It's saved me literally thousands in paintwork from various pieces of road debris.

 

For me and my cars a clear bra is a must.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

- Don't have a shop do the work if they use pre-cut clear-bra kits. I did made this mistake on my F430 and the closer I look, the more frustrated I get. There are cut-outs in the kit pieces for emblems, lights etc which you can see (if you look) and it's kind-of sloppy.

On my Gallardo, I went to Premier (http://www.premiermobilegroup.com/) where they did a custom wrap for about the same price as the kit and I'm MUCH MUCH more happy with the result. You simply can't tell the car is covered. The quality of their film is better than the kit on the Ferrari and their work is exceptional. If you don't use Premier, you need to find a shop near you with a similar reputation.

- Don't do a half-hood. Have the entire front half of the car done. On both cars I have full hood, full fenders, mirrors and any other forward facing surface (including air-intakes and rocker panels) covered.

I've tracked the F430 a few times and have zero paint damage... there are some slight tears in the clear bra, but this is more easily fixed than paint.

And finally, as others have said, you need to wait a while before you can wrap the paint. I don't know how long, but it's measured in weeks not days.

Frank

 

Yes, wrap it up! Only thing I noticed is it looks as though the flat areas has uneveness. Like bad body work. I wouldn't use it on the upper flat areas of the body. My 2 cents!

 

+1

Essentially a clear wrap which is becoming a popular option for cars that are driven.

 

Unless you plan on driving your car 60mph backwards, do the front of the car. The paint looks poor where it's wrapped. Don't even think of going without it on the bumper.

 

i know i am in the minority.
my 430 is "naked"!
i have no stone chips.
i do not drive my 430 on the freeway.
i stay far back from trucks.

the only clear bra is my wife's!

 

Looks like crap IMHO,

(my grandmothers couch is wrapped in plastic too, it will be in nice shape for her estate sale though. Too bad it will be way out of style by then.)

Plus, all around, a bad, expensive call. IMHO.

I would pay $5k less for a car that had it.

 

??? You would $5,000 less for a car that had it? I dont understand your logic there. You know it peels right off. I am betting that your experience with clear bras was from a poor quality install. A good install with a good film will be virtually invisible. In fact look at some of the installs Premier posts in here. You can not tell there is film on the car anywhere.

By the way, if you go to buy your next car, it already has film on it, and they wont budge on the price, give me $4000 and I will come out and remove the film for you. The paint underneath will be pristine.

 

I definitely recommend it. Just had my murci done with Venture shield and it gives me piece of mind knowing its protected. My 360 has it as well, but it will soon need to be redone. Even the film can be slightly damaged from road rash after a long time.

Don't forget to do the intakes, under the door handles(for scratches), door edges, and wheel wells.

 

I had a clear bra on my 360. I believe it was 3M. I bought the car - a 2001 - in 2006. It was fine initially, but then started to yellow ever so slightly after I had owned the car for about 2.5 years. I didn't even notice it, but the person buying my car did. He took it off the car and sent me pictures and you could see it was very yellow. I always kept the car in a garage and/or covered, so I'm not sure what caused it to yellow, unless it was simply due to age.

You might e-mail Peter (Moorfan on here). He seems very knowledgeable about clear bras. He could probably tell you which brands are the best.

I think if you don't mind the idea of having the clear film on there (up close you can see the lines where it's installed), then it does offer some added protection for the paint. I had an incident where my side mirror made contact with a construction marker on the side of the road (the type which flip down when you hit them). It was a darn close call; some hippy in a pickup truck cut me off near Santa Cruz as I was going to pass him. Anyway, made contact at about 75 MPH and it slammed the mirror in (folded it back). When I got out to check, the 3M bra that had been applied took all the abuse. I just went home and used some buffing compound and it was good as new.

Ray

 

It will save you money in the long run and give you peace of mind. It really is a no brainer. DO IT!

 

I have a clear bra (goes about 1/3 way up hood) on my 360, the bra was done about 3 years ago. I'm considering putting the challenge stripe on it from f360performance. Will I need to remove the hood and front bumper bra first? I'm assuming the bra will have to be removed first, then the stripe, then if desired a new hood bra applied over the stripe.

 

Seems the sentiment here is to protect your car. I am also in this group of believers. I used to be anti-bra (many years ago) because of a bad experience with a mobile guy here in the Peninsula. There were bubbles and creases in which the installer said it was normal. I couldn't believe the response I was getting, so I decided to take the Merc over to another guy and he gave it a shot and it looked ok (far from satisfied, but better than the other guy, who is no longer in business). At that point in time, I was done with this. Then I saw several posts on another forum and then brought my car to a company named Premier. They took it the car in and redid everything on the car. No creases, no wrinkles, no bubbles. Very satisfied.

I learned from my mistake. Get someone with a reputation for doing this. I did and used www.premiermobilegroup.com - no affiliation, just a very satisfied customer who was anti-bra before using them.

 

It's the logical thing to do I suppose but I don't. Perhaps I would if the environment really made an impact on the car (sand/desert) or drove the car every day. For me, I want all paint and I don't care for having a film protectant on the car. I want the full deepness of the paint and adding a layer on top of the clear doesn't do it for me. Have I had rock chips? Yes.

But putting the best wax and sealant on the paint is to me a better trade off. I have a 20 hour detail on the car each year and for about $1,000, they take the chips out and re-apply swissvax as part of the detail. I think it's a personal preference matter but most rock chips don't get into the paint, they simply chip the clear coat (still a visible chip) plus your detailer will measure the thickness of the paint and the clearcoat to ensure you are good for many years to come. Most of my Fcars have had an average of 200 microns of paint and another 35-50 of clear, which is nice and thick for many years of beautiful finish.

I personally think people do much more damage to the finish by improperly washing their cars than by driving without a clear bra. Buy a 3M sun gun or another good light and take a close look at the damage done (swirl marks/scratches) after a month or two of driving and washing. Great wax (I use Swissvax Mystery) and proper washing is critical. The clear bra, IMO, is not.